48 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The poet, at the commencement of this beautiful de- 

 scription, alludes to an error often entertained in refer- 

 ence to the nightingale. Strange is it that this lively- 

 bird should ever be thought melancholy. Its solitary 

 habits, and its love of the night, have probably given 

 rise to this opinion : but no bird sings when it is sad. 



The nightingale is not found north of Shrewsbury in 

 the west, or Doncaster in the east, and is seldom seen 

 in Cornwall or Devonshire. It has been said to be only 

 observed where cowslips grow plentifully, the indications 

 of a damp, cool soil ; but this is not correct. Nightin- 

 gales are very numerous at Colchester, where a cowslip is 

 scarcely to be seen, and the soil is drj^and gravelly: they 

 abound in gardens, as well as woods. They have never 

 ventured north of the Tweed. Hence the poet Leyden 

 wrote : — 



Sweet bird ! how long shall Teviot's maids deplore 

 Thy song, unheard along her woodland shore ! 



Sir J. Sinclair tried, indeed, to introduce the nightin- 

 gale into the groves of Scotland. The eggs of robins 

 were exchanged for those of nightingales ; the young 

 birds were hatched and brought up by their foster-pa- 

 rents, but they migrated in September, the usual time, 

 and never returned to the place of their birth. 



Still, the nightingale is known in many parts of Eu- 

 rope. It is found as far north as Sweden, in the greater 



